Fox News Hosts Have Demanded Iraqi Oil As Reimbursement For Invasion

Beck On Iraq: “We Take The Oil To A Certain Point” To “Pay Us Back.” From Glenn Beck's radio show:

GLENN BECK: Here's the problem. We went in and we freed Iraq. Now, we may not like what it looks like, but it is certainly better than the torture chambers. You know, if you really want to go back there, it'd be great if we would have not killed Saddam Hussein. And at this point we would have just said, you know what guys, if you want him back, we got him in a prison, we'll just give him back to you. And we got all the Ba'athists and everything else, yeah, yeah, you know what, we're just going to put them all back. Instead what we did is we killed him, and everybody forgets how bad it was, and then we give the oil to somebody else. How did we not get at least the oil to repay us for what we did?

[...]

BECK: I'm not saying that we take the oil - and, you know, we take the oil and we get it now for all time. We take the oil to a certain point. We say, this is what this war cost, you're paying this back. And we're gonna take the oil - not all of it, we're gonna let you have money, etc, etc. But we're gonna take off the side, you pay us back for this amount of money. Period. And we never did it.

PAT GRAY: Seems fair.

BECK: Seems absolutely fair. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Glenn Beck Program, 4/1/11]

Hannity: “The Iraqis, With All Their Oil Resources, Need [To] Pay Us Back For Their Liberation.” From Sean Hannity's Fox News interview with Gary Johnson:

SEAN HANNITY: I actually have had an idea. Nobody listens to little old Sean Hannity. But I'm like, I think the Iraqis, with all their oil resources, need pay us back for their liberation. Every single solitary penny.

GARY JOHNSON: I really -

(CROSSTALK)

JOHNSON: I really thought that from the beginning.

HANNITY: Yes.

JOHNSON: I thought -- I was kind of part of the deal.

HANNITY: Should have been part of the deal. Right?

JOHNSON: Should have been part of the deal.

HANNITY: I think it should be now. I think they owe us a lot for that. [Fox News, Hannity, 5/7/10, via Nexis]

Fox & Friends Nods In Agreement With Trump On Iraq: “We Should Just Stay There And Take The Oil.” From Fox News regular guest Donald Trump's weekly segment on Fox & Friends:

GRETCHEN CARLSON: Did you get any fallout, Donald, from your comments about what America should did in Iraq, after your interview with O'Reilly?

DONALD TRUMP: No, I tell ya, I had an amazing response from the O'Reilly show. It's probably the biggest show he's ever done in the sense of three fairly full nights of me--

BRIAN KILMEADE: Yeah.

CARLSON: [laughing]

TRUMP: And he was very happy, 'cause as he will tell you, his ratings were phenomenal. So he was very, very happy.

STEVE DOOCY: Sure.

TRUMP: But we had three really amazing nights. And no, I very simply said that Iran is going to take over Iraq, and if that's going to happen, we should just -

KILMEADE: Stay.

TRUMP: Stay there and take the oil. They want the oil. And why should we -- we denuded Iraq, Iran's gonna walk in, take it over, take over the second largest oil fields in the world. That's going to happen. That would mean that all of those soldiers that have died and been wounded and everything else would have died in vain--

DOOCY: Right.

TRUMP: And I don't want that to happen. I want them to be -- I want their parents and their families to be proud. The last thing I want to see happen is for Iran to go in and take over Iraq and the oil fields of Iraq, because we weakened that country to a point where they can just walk in. So I say, we take the oil.

CARLSON: [laughing]

TRUMP: You know, in the old days, when you won a war, to the victor belong the spoils. You kept it.

DOOCY: Sure.

TRUMP: We win a war, and we hand it over to some people we don't know, and we leave. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 4/4/11]

Hannity Also Said Of Kuwait: “We Have Every Right To Go In There And Frankly, Take All Their Oil And Make Them Pay For The Liberation.” On his Fox News show, Sean Hannity said:

HANNITY: All right, one other thing. I interviewed Donald Trump earlier this week and we were talking about OPEC and it infuriates me, gas is now going up to three, four, five dollars a gallon again. You know, we're going to head up into that territory, which is another tax on the American people.

We have all this oil in this country. Every time the oil debate comes up, we get lectured, oh it's going to take years to do it. We could literally do this immediately and here it is Kuwait, this country would not exist for us and their oil minister is out there lecturing us and basically said, no, no, you can handle that. Get used to it. We're going to jack it up.

JANIE JOHNSON: Wondering when the liberals are going to blame the high prices on Bush and Cheney?

HANNITY: That's going to happen, too.

ELISE JORDAN: It's just so disgusting. I really think we need to use our leverage here against these autocrats and not be pushed around when we're the ones securing Kuwait.

We're the ones securing the Saudis and they're bragging, you know, now, $100 a barrel. But what I think is interesting though, they aren't factoring in Iraq and Iraq's increased oil production over the next --

HANNITY: But there's two things I said. I said, why isn't Iraq paying us back with oil and paying every American family and their soldiers that lost loved ones and have injured soldiers, and why didn't they pay for their own liberation?

For the Kuwait oil minister, how short his memory is? You know, we have every right to go in there and frankly, take all their oil and make them pay for the liberation as these sheiks, et cetera, et cetera, you know, were living in hotels in London and New York as Trump pointed out and now they're gouging us and say, of course we can withstand that. [Fox News, Hannity, 1/14/11]

Fox News Figures Have Also Demanded Arab Countries Pay For Libya Intervention

Beck On Libya: “I Tell You What: We'll Help You, You Write Us a Big, Fat Check.” From Beck's radio show:

BECK: Let me ask you this. The Arab nations all get together, and they're like, “oh, you got to help us with Libya.” Well why aren't you paying for it? I tell you what: we'll help you, you write us a big, fat check right now. Otherwise, what are we sending an aircraft carrier over there for? What are we doing? You pay for it. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Glenn Beck Program, 4/1/11]

Fox's Varney, Payne, And Willis Want Arab League “Charge[d]” For Libya Intervention. From Fox's Cavuto on Business:

STUART VARNEY: Well, talk about getting stuck with the bill. The pentagon says we're spending $55 million a day on this war that is not a war, a number that will be on low end. And we're still shelling out the dough, even though we've passed off control to our NATO allies. And get this; the Arab League, which pushed the non-war, is bashing America in this non-war. It's not required to pay anything. Gerri, this is a bad check.

GERRI WILLIS: Well, it's not required to pay a dime. The Arab League said, hey, let's have a no-fly zone, but we're not going to give you any money for it. In the meantime, they're gonna make a trillion dollars this year from oil profits, because oil's gone a hundred bucks a barrel. So, that's not good news. Those 22 nations in the Arab League, they're really benefitting from the work we're doing over there, and our allies, because if we're gonna bring peace to the region, it's gonna be more stable, yet we're footing the bill.

VARNEY: So, should we charge 'em?

WILLIS: Yes.

VARNEY: Charles Payne, should we charge 'em?

CHARLES PAYNE: Yeah, well, we should charge them, but also you know, Italy, Greece, I mean, Italy, France, let's be honest, I mean they needed this more than anybody needed this. And I don't know if we're returning a favor or what exactly is going on. By the way, this is looking already like the Bay of Pigs, 2011 version. And so, this $55 million number is going to go a lot higher, because we're going to have to expend more Tomahawks to try and turn this thing around, because these rebels have no clue what they're doing, no leadership. But the whole thing is really very, very interesting because of this war that is not a war, and the fact that we're once again footing the bill, and we really don't still at this point -- despite the president's address -- we still don't know why we're over there. [Fox News, Cavuto on Business, 4/2/11]